


rooted in my lungs (rooted in my heart)

by perfectlyrose



Series: trope bingo fills [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Blood, Pining Keith (Voltron), Romance, Universe Alteration, and coughing up flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: Keith croaks out something that could possibly qualify as a laugh. It makes him cough and two more petals, pink and flecked with blood tumble out of his mouth. “Fuck,” he whispers.Pidge steadies him with a hand to the shoulder, suddenly much closer now.“Talk to him,” she urges. “Or we need to talk to Coran about options. This is killing you, Keith.”“I know,” he admits. “I don’t know how to tell him. I wouldn’t be coughing up fucking flowers if he felt the same.”
Relationships: Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: trope bingo fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053155
Comments: 9
Kudos: 147





	rooted in my lungs (rooted in my heart)

**Author's Note:**

> trope bingo fill for @/yolkswagen2 on twitter!
> 
> trope: hanahaki

Keith stuffs the scant handful of petals in his pocket and wipes his mouth. He winces when his wrist comes away smeared with blood. It’s going to be hard to continue keeping this hidden. The castleship is huge, yet there never seems to be any privacy.

“So, you planning on doing anything about that?”

Keith jumps at Pidge’s voice. She’s leaning against the wall a few meters down the corridor.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Answer the question,” she shoots back. There’s steel in her voice that she doesn’t often show. “I’ve known you’ve been hacking up flowers for weeks and I’ve kept it from the others because I figured you couldn’t possibly be this stupid.”

Keith’s hand clenches, crushing a silken petal. “Pidge…”

“You could  _ die _ , Keith.” She stares him down, eyes gleaming. “I’m not losing more family.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Keith admits.

“Well, I would personally start with talking to Shiro. He’s worried about you even without knowing what’s going on.”

“How—” Keith starts before Pidge’s glare cuts him off. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yeah, buddy.”

Keith croaks out something that could possibly qualify as a laugh. It makes him cough and two more petals, pink and flecked with blood tumble out of his mouth. “Fuck,” he whispers.

Pidge steadies him with a hand to the shoulder, suddenly much closer now. “Talk to him,” she urges. “Or we need to talk to Coran about options. This is killing you, Keith.”

“I know,” he admits. “I don’t know how to tell him. I wouldn’t be coughing up fucking flowers if he felt the same.”

Pidge shakes him. “You know that’s not how—”

“You have hanahaki?”

Pidge and Keith both jump this time. Shiro is at the end of the corridor, shock painted on his face.

“Shiro…”

He takes a few steps closer, eyes flicking down to the petals still in Keith’s hand.

“How long?” Shiro asks.

Pidge looks between them then pats Keith on the arm. “Good luck. I’m going to go… be somewhere else.”

“Traitor.”

She books it without a response. Shiro doesn’t even seem to register her departure as he steps into Keith’s space.

“Keith? Is this why you’ve been avoiding everyone?”

Keith nods. Shiro reaches out for his wrist, holding it gently while he peers at the petals in his hand.

“It’s gotten worse lately,” Keith says, trying for nonchalant and probably missing by a mile. “Didn’t really want to start hacking up petals in the training room or anything.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Keith can hear the question he’s really asking, why Keith didn’t tell  _ Shiro _ , didn’t tell his best friend. Which, to be fair, if Keith was coughing up flowers for anyone else, Shiro would be his first stop.

The thought seems to agitate the plant rooted in his lungs and he starts coughing. This time, he can’t seem to stop, coughing until he’s lightheaded. When he finally stops, he’s on the floor and he has a mangled half-bloom instead of just petals.

“Well that’s new,” Keith rasps out. His voice is destroyed.

Shiro is rubbing his back and pauses at that. “Keith, this is  _ bad _ .”

“No shit.”

“Is it someone back on Earth? We can figure out how to get you back there. I’m sure we can if it means saving your life.”

“Shiro.”

“I can’t lose you,” Shiro whispers. “We’ll figure this out.”

“I don’t even know if hanahaki is a thing for non-humans and if there’s somewhere I can get the surgery,” Keith points out.

Shiro flinches. “Is the surgery what you want?” He reaches out like he’s going to touch the flower cupped in Keith’s palms but pulls back at the last second. “If it’s already this advanced, the surgery could be…”

Catastrophic, Keith knows. With the plant this entrenched, it’ll take most of Keith’s feelings and possibly his memories of Shiro. It could permanently fuck up his lungs.

“It might be my only option,” Keith whispers. “It’s not like it’s likely that they feel the same.”

“Is he back on Earth?” Shiro asks again. Which answers the question of how much Shiro heard earlier, at least. “He’s an idiot if he doesn’t love you.”

Keith laughs mostly so that he doesn’t sob at the way his heart clenches, the way the parasitic roots dig deeper at Shiro’s words. Such fucking irony.

“He’s not,” Keith says.

Shiro’s eyes flash but Keith can’t read the emotion there. He takes a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go talk to Coran and Allura about getting back to Earth.”

He puts his hands on Keith’s elbows like he’s going to help him to his feet.

“It won’t help,” Keith says. Shiro opens his mouth to argue, but Keith doesn’t let him. “He’s not on Earth, Shiro.”

That flash in Shiro’s eyes again. “Hunk?”

Keith rolls his eyes. “No. And don’t you dare suggest Lance.” He takes a deep breath and pushes the bloody flower into Shiro’s chest, his cheeks burning. “Who else could it be, Shiro? It’s always been you.”

Shiro freezes for a moment and Keith’s heart drops to his feet. Then Shiro’s hand is cradling the back of his head and he’s kissing him.

Shiro is  _ kissing _ him.

He barely manages to kiss him back before he’s pulling away. “You love me.”

“I’ve been told I’m not subtle about it,” Keith retorts. The roots pull on him. “But, yes, I love you. Obviously.”

Shiro takes the partial flower and cradles it carefully, reverently. “I love you too, Keith. Apparently not so obviously if it did this to you. I’m so sorry.”

Keith opens his mouth to tell him not to apologize but starts hacking instead. The roots of the plant are doing  _ something _ inside of him and it’s not comfortable. He’s vaguely aware of Shiro panicking, of being picked up and carried through the halls as he coughs and coughs and coughs.

The whole plant, roots and stem and flowers, comes out, drenched in spit and blood.

Keith feels better than he has in  _ months _ , but Shiro and Pidge and Coran are all staring at him with varying degrees of horror.

“Think I’m cured,” he says hoarsely. He’s still a little woozy from oxygen deprivation.

“Congrats,” Pidge says dryly. “Thanks for not dying.”

“Anytime.”

“Think you should pop into one of the pods, lad,” Coran says. “Couldn’t hurt after all that.”

Keith makes a face.

“It would make me feel better,” Shiro says. He squeezes Keith’s hand. “We can talk about everything when you get out.”

“Terrible bribe,” Keith complains.

“Then I guess I just won’t kiss you again until you spend at least half an hour in a pod.”

“That’s blackmail, Shirogane.”

“Is it working?”

Keith leans up and steals a quick kiss, feeling just a little bold here in the aftermath. Shiro  _ loves  _ him. He said so.

“Yes.”

“If you two are going to be gross, I’m leaving,” Pidge says. She’s loaded Keith’s plant on a tray and has already laid claim to it for experiments. She pauses at the door. “I’m happy for you both.”

Keith smiles at her and then she’s gone.

“Pod,” Shiro reminds him.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Keith grumbles. 

He gets into the pod suit Coran gives him and steps into the healing pod, feeling as claustrophobic in it as always.

“Kiss for luck,” Shiro tells him. He leans in and kisses Keith’s cheek. “See you on the other side, sweetheart.”

Keith is blushing when the pod snicks shut.

Shiro loves him and everything is going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> [find me on twitter!](https://twitter.com/LionessNapping)


End file.
